MacRumors

Last week, Apple notified the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) that it was withdrawing its products from the EPEAT registry, and would no longer be submitting its products for evaluation. EPEAT measures the environmental impact of electronics and is used by many corporations and governmental organizations as a yardstick on enterprise purchases.

In one well-publicized instance, the city of San Francisco said it would no longer purchase Macs without EPEAT certification.

In an unusual about-face, Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering Bob Mansfield wrote an open letter reversing the decision to remove Apple products from the EPEAT registry.

We’ve recently heard from many loyal Apple customers who were disappointed to learn that we had removed our products from the EPEAT rating system. I recognize that this was a mistake. Starting today, all eligible Apple products are back on EPEAT.

It’s important to know that our commitment to protecting the environment has never changed, and today it is as strong as ever. Apple makes the most environmentally responsible products in our industry.

We've received word that Bob Mansfield is sending a copy of the letter, from his @Apple.com email address, to customers who had expressed concern over the EPEAT withdrawal.

A full list of Apple's EPEAT-rated products is available, and includes the latest releases of the MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro with Retina Display.

EPEAT CEO Robert Frisbee also wrote a letter confirming Apple and EPEAT's commitment to working together and hinting at future changes to the EPEAT judging process to work with Apple as it continues its cutting edge computer designs.

We look forward to Apple’s strong and creative thoughts on ongoing standards development. The outcome must reward new directions for both design and sustainability, simultaneously supporting the environment and the market for all manufacturers’ elegant and high-performance products.

An interesting question for EPEAT is how to reward innovations that are not yet envisioned with standards that are fixed at a point in time. Diverse goals, optional points awarded for innovations not yet described, and flexibility within specified parameters to make this happen are all on the table in EPEAT stakeholder discussions. And of course, timely standards development, as with newly created Imaging Equipment and Television standards, and the current refresh of the PC/Display standard, is critical as well.

Slate's Farhad Manjoo called the entire EPEAT situation a "really strange unforced error."

Earlier this year, environmental activist group Greenpeace made waves with a report taking Apple and other companies to task for not doing enough to eliminate the use of dirty coal-sourced power at their data centers. Apple quickly responded at the time to note that Greenpeace had greatly overestimated the power needs of the company's flagship data center in Maiden, North Carolina, thereby understating the impact of Apple's solar and fuel cell power generation occurring at the site.

In that statement, Apple refuted Greenpeace's estimate of peak power demand of 100 megawatts for the data center, revealing that power demand would actually peak at 20 megawatts. And a month later, Apple published additional details on its efforts to run all of its data centers on 100% green energy.

Greenpeace announced yesterday that it has prepared an updated report on Apple's energy usage based on the new information, but as noted by Data Center Knowledge's Rich Miller, the group still seems to be being overly critical in its grading of Apple, even continuing to make up its own estimates of the North Carolina data center's energy usage rather than believing Apple's public statements.

In its initial report in April, Greenpeace estimated Apple’s power use in North Carolina at a whopping 100 megawatts. The group has reduced that slightly to 81 megawatts, dismissing the company’s disclosure that it expects draw about 20 megawatts at full capacity.

Miller goes on to note that Apple has clearly disclosed in regulatory documents that it intends to install backup generators capable of producing 41 megawatts of electricity in an "N+2" configuration that keeps at least two generators as spares, meaning that Apple is only planning for peak demand of 35-36 megawatts at an absolute maximum.

Miller points to two possible reasons for Greenpeace's continued refusal to acknowledge Apple's statements and other official documents addressing the data center's power needs:

Greenpeace’s continuing use of this methodology, in light of Apple’s disclosure and permit data, raises several possibilities:

- Greenpeace is having difficulty developing estimates that accurately incorporate data center operations and power usage.
- Greenpeace is predisposed to cling to estimates that make Apple look less “green” because it generates more headlines for its awareness campaigns.

For its part, Apple has continued to stand by its earlier comments, issuing a statement to Forbes:

We’re committed to building the world’s most environmentally responsible data centers and are leading the industry in the use of renewable energy, including the nation’s largest private solar arrays and non-utility fuel cell installation,” Kristin Huguet, an Apple spokewoman, said today. “As we’ve said before, our North Carolina and California data centers will be coal-free as of February 2013 and our newest data centers in Oregon and Nevada will be designed to meet that standard from Day One.”

Greenpeace's revised report gives Apple no additional credit for transparency, despite the company having explicitly revealed the power requirements of the data center, and the group's insistence on sticking with an 81-megawatt estimate of peak power capacity brings Apple's usage of renewable energy at the site down to just 22% as opposed to the 60% figure explicitly stated by Apple.

Greenpeace is also reluctant to give Apple credit for its fuel cell installation, waiting to hear whether Apple will actually be using biogas to directly power the cells or if it will be using natural gas and instead purchasing biogas to be inserted elsewhere in the distribution system to offset the company's natural gas usage. But given that Apple's biogas commitment would have the same net effect on overall natural gas consumption regardless of where exactly in the distribution system it is used, it seems that Apple should be pursuing the most cost-effective strategy for deploying that biogas.

As noted by 9to5Mac, a Russian hacker has developed a relatively simple method to allow users to bypass Apple's In App Purchase mechanism on many iOS apps, allowing users to obtain the content for free.

The method, which does not require jailbreaking, involves installing a pair of certificates on the user's device and then using a custom DNS entry. Users can then perform in-app purchases as usual and automatically be redirected through the hacked system.

Aside from the obvious impact that the hack involves theft of content from developers, the method also poses risks to those using the hack, as some of their own information is transmitted to the hacker's servers during the purchasing process. For both of those reasons, users are strongly advised not to pursue the method.

The hacker has already been evicted from his original host and had reportedly moved to a new one, but the site is currently down. It is unclear whether it is down simply due to high traffic or if other steps are being taken to hinder his activities.

Developers can prevent the hack from working with their apps by implementing validation of In App Purchase receipts, something many developers have not included in their apps.

Update: The Next Web takes a closer look at the method developed by Alexey Borodin, which actually can not be prevented simply by employing receipt validation.

All Borodin’s service needs is a single donated receipt, which it can then use to authenticate anyone’s purchase requests. Many of those receipts have been donated by Borodin himself, who has spent several hundred dollars on in-app purchases testing and generating receipts. [...]

Because the bypass emulates the receipt verification server on the App Store, the app treats it as an official communication, period.

Addressing the issue will ultimately require changes by Apple, which could enhance the API used for In App Purchases to provide for uniquely signed receipts that could not be duplicated on a mass basis as with Borodin's service.

The Next Web also interviewed Borodin, who noted that he has turned over operation of the site to a third party in order to avoid trouble and will be deleting any information he obtained from running the operation. According to Borodin, over 30,000 in-app transactions were made through his service, and he netted just $6.78 in PayPal donations to help with his costs.

Update 2: Macworld also chatted with Borodin, who noted that he can indeed see users' App Store account names and passwords, as they are transmitted in clear text as part of the In App Purchase process.

“I can see the Apple ID and password,” for accounts that try the hack, Borodin told Macworld. “But not the credit card information.” Borodin said that he was “shocked” that passwords were passed in plain text and not encrypted.

According to [developer Marco] Tabini, though, “Apple presumes it’s talking to its own server with a valid security certificate.” But that was clearly a mistake—“This is entirely Apple’s fault,” Tabini added.

Update 3: Apple has issued a brief statement to The Loop acknowledging that it is aware of and investigating the issue.

“The security of the App Store is incredibly important to us and the developer community, Natalie Harrison, told The Loop. “We take reports of fraudulent activity very seriously and we are investigating.”

For the first time since its launch just over one month ago, Apple's Retina MacBook Pro has begun to see improvements in shipping estimates for new orders placed through the company's online store. The improvement has appeared first in Apple's Asia-Pacific markets, which have seen estimates move from 3-4 weeks to 2-3 weeks.

Shipping estimates in Apple's other main distribution regions of the Americas and Europe/Middle East/Africa remain at 3-4 weeks, but it is likely they will see similar improvements in the near future.

While Apple announced the Retina MacBook Pro as immediately available on its debut day of June 11, shipping estimates quickly slipped to 2-3 weeks by the end of the day and reached 3-4 weeks roughly 24 hours later. Estimates have remained steady at 3-4 weeks since that time until today's improvement in the Asia-Pacific channel.

Update: The improved 2-3 week estimates have now spread to the Americas and are beginning to filter into a number of European stores.

A few weeks ago, MacStories noted that Apple had told developers that a new Food & Drink category was coming to the App Store.

“In the next few weeks”, applications will be automatically migrated to the new category; currently, the App Store doesn’t provide a specific category for these types of apps, which have been typically listed under Lifestyle by their developers. According to Apple, the new category will include “apps that help users cook and bake, mix drinks, manage recipes, find new restaurants and bars, and learn what their friends like to eat and drink”. Food & Drink won’t include diet, grocery shopping, coupon clipping, or food-related game apps.

The new category is now live in the App Store [Link] and features over 2800 Paid and 4000 Free apps in the iPhone section and over 1200 Paid and 1000 Free apps in the iPad section. Apple has been contacting developers with relevant Food & Drink apps over the past few weeks to prepare for the new category.

A newly-published Apple patent application (via AppleInsider) reveals Apple's interest in exploring the use of the iPod nano's clip as a charging and docking mechanism, a move that would eliminate the need for a dedicated docking port on the bottom edge of the device as found in the current design.

By incorporating electrical contacts into the clip and using a dock adapter to provide compatibility with Apple's current docking stations, the clamping action of the iPod nano's clip could hold the device in position for charging purposes.

In some embodiments, a portable user device may include a rechargeable battery, and a clip member that is electrically coupled to the rechargeable battery. The rechargeable battery may be charged by electrically coupling the clip member to a receiving receptacle. In some embodiments, the clip member may provide a clamping force which aids in maintaining contact between the receiving receptacle and the clip member.

Apple's patent application also describes a number of other implementations for the clip-based charging mechanism, including the ability to clip directly onto a charging point on the bezel of another device.

The newly-published patent, originally filed in January 2011, is not the first time Apple has proposed a means to increase the utility of the iPod nano's clip. A May 2010 application proposed integrating a piezoelectric speaker into the clip, while a prototype device has hinted at plans to equip the device with a rear camera that would project through a hole in the clip.

A new rumor surfacing earlier this week claims, however, that Apple will be abandoning the current iPod nano design later this year in favor of an oblong design with a larger screen and a home button similar to that found on iOS devices.

Apple is also rumored to be bringing a smaller dock connector to its iOS devices later this year, a feature that could make its way to the iPod nano as well given that the device currently uses the same dock connector design seen in iOS devices.

Over the past three days, numerous MacRumors readers have noted that Apple's online store for refurbished products has been completely empty, with the store pages simply noting "Sorry there are no products available, please check back later."

The outage affects all Mac, iPad, and iPod models, as well as clearance products, and appears to extend to Apple's online stores for every country in which direct sales are available. Individual pages for refurbished models simply list the products as "out of stock".

The reason for the complete absence of any refurbished products through Apple's online store remains unknown, and it is unclear when that status might change. But with the outage now in its third day, increasing numbers of customers hoping to take advantage of discounted pricing are finding themselves out of luck.

We've contacted Apple to inquire about the status of refurbished products, but have yet to receive a response.

Update: A number of MacRumors readers report being able to see stock in the refurbished store, while others viewing the same pages are seeing no results.

GigaOM takes a look at how Apple's data center in Maiden, North Carolina came to be, interviewing Catawba County Economic Development Corporation president Scott Millar for the story behind the deal. According to Millar, Apple was initially interested in building its data center within an abandoned textile mill in the area, but almost pulled out of the deal entirely when it decided that the building would be too small for its needs.

Economic development officials in Catawba County, and a data center development group, had been talking with Apple for months to get the company interested in setting up its data center in town. Then the developer spent months making sure that an abandoned mill building — a remnant of the region’s days as a vibrant textile manufacturing area — would be ready to house the new facility.

But as Apple executives got closer to making a decision, they suddenly decided that the building was just too small. It looked like Apple was going to have to go elsewhere for its massive 500,000 square-foot iCloud data center.

Ultimately, Catawba County officials were able to save the deal by offering Apple the 180-acre parcel that had initially been envisioned as a cluster of smaller data centers and which is now where the company's massive data center sits.

The report notes that Catawba County entered the data center market in 2005 when Google was searching for a location in the area, although the search giant ultimately settled on a site in neighboring Caldwell County. But based on that experience with Google and the groundwork that had been laid in working with power company Duke Energy on data center needs, Catawba County continued to scout for other companies interested in East Coast data center locations.

Apple was introduced to the Maiden site, which had almost been sold off a year earlier, through an existing relationship with T5 Partners, a data center development group that visited the area as part of annual site tour of the region to promote data center development. With the county moving rapidly to secure the needed site, power capacity, and economic incentives, it was able to strike a deal with Apple for what is currently the company's largest data center by far.

Apple has since announced plans for another large data center in Prineville, Oregon, where it has reportedly already begun building small-scale data facilities in modular buildings. And just weeks ago, Apple confirmed its intent to build yet another data center outside of Reno, Nevada, with the deal also including new facilities in Reno to support "business and purchasing" needs.

Reuters reports on the growing number of Chinese vendors that have already begun taking orders for the "iPhone 5", despite the fact that Apple has made no announcement about the next-generation iPhone's specs or availability.

Sellers on Taobao, a unit of Alibaba Group, are accepting orders for the iPhone 5, in some cases asking for a deposit of 1,000 yuan ($160) for the new phone. One seller, "Dahai99888", who started accepting pre-orders this week, is asking for full payment upfront, at a cool 6,999 yuan ($1,100).

Taobao sellers that Reuters spoke with said they planned to buy the iPhone 5 in Hong Kong or the United States and then bring it to mainland China. Apple products are often available in Hong Kong before they are released on the mainland.

The report also points to a surge in the number of cases for the next-generation iPhone being sold through similar channels. But while case makers have sometimes possessed accurate advance information in the past such as with the iPad 2, they were less successful with their production of iPhone cases for a tapered form factor last year.

Increasing activity surrounding the next-generation iPhone comes as KitGuru posts a number of photos of what it claims is the actual device. But while the overall form factor is consistent with previously-leaked photos and details, a number of aspects of the photos including a very rough appearance and a lack of a visible LCD display or opening for one in the front panel suggest that the item is simply a physical mockup based on circulating information.

The source of the mockup is unknown, with KitGuru simply noting that it was spotted "in the Far East", and it may represent a case maker's model for advance production based on leaked and rumored details. Similar internal molds claimed to be for the next-generation iPhone and "iPad mini" surfaced earlier this week.

Research firm Gartner today released its preliminary personal computer shipment data for the second quarter of 2012, offering up a picture of market performance during the quarter. While Apple experienced only small year-over-year unit growth of 4.3% in the United States, the company was the only one of the top five vendors to see year-over-year growth and the company once again outperformed the overall industry and its 5.7% decline.

Apple's share of the U.S. market rose to 12.0% for the quarter after two straight quarters of decline due to the company's seasonality. The figure, which allowed Apple to consolidate its hold on the third position in the U.S. market behind HP and Dell, marked Apple's second best performance in recent years following a 12.9% share in the third quarter of 2011. The third quarter, which includes back-to-school purchases in many of Apple's strongest markets, is typically its best-performing quarter.

As usual, Gartner did not cover Apple's worldwide market share for the quarter, as the company does not rank among the top five vendors on a worldwide basis. PC shipments experienced a 0.1% year-over-year decline on a worldwide basis, with strong growth from Asus and Lenovo being offset by declines from HP and Dell.

Update: IDC has released its own estimates for the quarter, pegging Apple at a 1.1% year-over-year decline in U.S. shipments and an 11.4% share of that market. IDC estimated that Lenovo was able to enter the top five on the strength of a 6.1% year-over-year gain, but the overall U.S. market was much weaker than expected in registering a 10.6% drop.

The New York Times reports on Apple CEO Tim Cook's presence at the annual Allen & Co. media conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, noting that he is easily earning the title of "Mr. Popular" due to Apple's rare presence at the event.

The conference, full of media bigwigs, has also been buzzing about any blueprints Mr. Cook may be hiding in Apple’s magic hat. He has lined up several one-on-one meetings with media executives here, fueling speculation that he is busy cobbling together partnerships for a home entertainment expansion.

Cook has been keeping a relatively low profile at the conference so far, but he did note that he was "looking forward" to those meetings.

When asked what he was looking forward to at the conference, Mr. Cook smiled. “I’m looking forward to all the private discussions I’ve set up this week,” he said.

Would he have time for coffee with DealBook?

The polite Mr. Cook simply replied, “Probably not.”

Steve Jobs was occasionally found on the invitation list for the Sun Valley conference, including as late as 2010, but his last appearance at the event came in 2005.